Sharon Machlis

Executive Editor, Data & Analytics

Sharon Machlis is Director of Editorial Data & Analytics at Foundry (the IDG, Inc. company that publishes websites including Computerworld and InfoWorld), where she analyzes data, codes in-house tools, and writes about data analysis tools and tips. She holds an Extra class amateur radio license and is somewhat obsessed with R. Her book Practical R for Mass Communication and Journalism was published by CRC Press.

Sharon was named Digital Analytics Association's 2021 Top (Data) Practitioner, winner of the 2023 Jesse H. Neal journalism award for best instructional content, 2014 Azbee national gold award for investigative reporting, and 2017 Azbee gold for how-to article, among other awards.

Create a free data dictionary with R

Create a free data dictionary with R

Have data sets scattered all over the place? Pull them into a single, robust catalog with the pointblank R package and a Quarto document.

Wasm comes to R

Wasm comes to R

Posit, formerly know as RStudio, has debuted an early version of an R package, aimed at developers, that brings WebAssembly (Wasm) to R.

Data Workshops for Ukraine: Learn a skill and support a cause

Data Workshops for Ukraine: Learn a skill and support a cause

The two-hour workshops offer training in data visualization and analysis with R, Python, and SQL and cost just $20 or €20. Next up is ChatGPT in R.

How to merge data in R using R merge, dplyr, or data.table

How to merge data in R using R merge, dplyr, or data.table

See how to join two data sets by one or more common columns using base R’s merge function, dplyr join functions, and the speedy data.table package.

How to create your own RSS reader with R

How to create your own RSS reader with R

Sure, you could use one of the commercial or open-source RSS readers. But isn’t it more fun to code your own?

Full-text search your own Mastodon posts with R

Full-text search your own Mastodon posts with R

Some Twitter users migrating to Mastodon miss being able to run full-text searches of their own toots. Here's how to search your own posts using R and the rtoots package.

Filter JavaScript objects the easy way with Arquero

Filter JavaScript objects the easy way with Arquero

Use popular 'grammar of data' syntax to filter and subset your two-dimensional JavaScript arrays and more. Here's how to use Arquero for data wrangling in Observable JavaScript and Node.js.

12 ggplot extensions for snazzier R graphics

12 ggplot extensions for snazzier R graphics

For everything from styling text and customizing color palettes to creating your own geoms, these ggplot2 add-ons deserve a place in your R data visualization toolkit. Plus, a bonus list of packages to explore on your own.

Learn Observable JavaScript with Observable notebooks

Learn Observable JavaScript with Observable notebooks

Free, hosted Observable notebooks provide an interactive experience and lots of free, open-source Observable JS code you can reuse and learn from. Here's how to get started.

Data visualization with Observable JavaScript

Data visualization with Observable JavaScript

Learn how to make the most of Observable JavaScript and the Observable Plot library, including a step-by-step guide to eight basic data visualization tasks in Plot.

A beginner's guide to using Observable JavaScript, R, and Python with Quarto

A beginner's guide to using Observable JavaScript, R, and Python with Quarto

Using Quarto with Observable JavaScript is a great solution for R and Python users who want to create more interactive and visually engaging reports.

How to create Word docs from R or Python with Quarto

How to create Word docs from R or Python with Quarto

It’s easy to automate the creation of Word documents with Quarto, a free, open-source technical publishing system that works with R, Python, and other programming languages.

What is Quarto? RStudio rolls out next-generation R Markdown

What is Quarto? RStudio rolls out next-generation R Markdown

R Markdown isn’t going away. But the Quarto publishing platform is as friendly to Python, Julia, and Observable JavaScript as it is to R.

RStudio unveils Shiny for Python

RStudio unveils Shiny for Python

After 10 years as an R framework, the Shiny web framework is now available for Python in an alpha release.

RStudio changes name to Posit, expands focus to include Python and VS Code

RStudio changes name to Posit, expands focus to include Python and VS Code

RStudio is updating its name as it aims to expand use of its commercial products among data science teams using both Python and R.

How to attend RStudio Conference 2022 remotely for free

How to attend RStudio Conference 2022 remotely for free

Keynotes and presentations will be streamed live. Plus, there will be a Discord server for virtual attendees.

shinytest2, Rhino R Shiny framework top news at Appsilon conference

shinytest2, Rhino R Shiny framework top news at Appsilon conference

An updated Shiny testing package and new Shiny framework were featured at this week's Shiny conference.

Easier ggplot with ggcharts in R

Easier ggplot with ggcharts in R

Create R data visualizations easily with a few lines of simple code using the ggcharts R package. Plus, the resulting charts and graphs are customizable ggplot objects.

How to create PowerPoint slides from R

How to create PowerPoint slides from R

Learn how to generate PowerPoint slides straight from an R Markdown document. Plus, create interactive HTML slides in R with the xaringan package.

Astonishingly easy mapping in R with mapview

Astonishingly easy mapping in R with mapview

Create interactive maps of GIS data with tooltips, hover text, and legends in one short and simple line of code. Plus get extras like side-by-side sliders and multiple maps in sync.

Load More